14 DAY TRIAL // Punk fashion is making a strong comeback this year, and it’s not just because the industry is turning to the days of old for inspiration that it's happening. Smacked in the middle of the recession, punk becomes customers’ best friend because it means tossing big names out the window and ravaging the wardrobe looking for funky, colorful, mismatched and, most important, interesting items.
Stylists say that there has never been a better time for a punk revival than now – or at least, not in the last 30 years. With big designer names becoming virtually inaccessible, punk comes in to offer a much cheaper, definitely more colorful and joyful alternative, that of subverting traditional items and making a statement. This is not a time to go for classic pieces or very expensive ones, this is the moment to look for plenty of electric colors and items that look anything but common, fashion insiders are telling us.
In their bid to not lose the little they still have, fashion designers have already started including punk elements in their collections. This is not just about wearing T-shirts held together with safety pins, or about big army boots or, who knows, about ripped jeans with chains.
This time around, punk comes to subvert long-standing garments like the school blazer, the tweed cardigan jacket, the military jacket, the tartan kilt, among many others, as seen in the collections of Comme Des Garcons, Versace, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Marc Jacobs.
In 2009, school girls choose to be different, stylists also point out. While the revived trend might not apply just as easily to men and women over 25 (although many of its elements would certainly work wonders with them too), young girls will have a blast choosing to go the opposite of the tanned, impeccable, designer-clad model promoted until now.
However, this does not mean that the rising trend pushes a lack of aesthetics, although it would seem so at first sight because it encourages contrast and mismatchedness. What it does promote though is the breaking of long-established rules, in what is considered to be the first genuine fashion revolution in more than three decades.
